Watford vs Chelsea: Why Vicarage Road clash is sure to be a Boxing Day cracker

Watford vs Chelsea: Why Vicarage Road clash is sure to be a Boxing Day cracker
Christmas has come and gone, and now’s the time for football fans to get excited.There is a huge fixture list this Boxing Day with 18 Premier League teams in action and matches running from 12:30pm until almost 10pm.We start the day in early afternoon with Wolves’ trip to Fulham, and the likes of Manchester United, Manchester City and Liverpool are all in action at the traditional 3pm kick-off time.2

It’s a festive feast of football this Boxing Day

Arsenal visit Brighton at 5:30pm, before one final fixture takes place in the evening.And that late match might just be the best of them all this Boxing Day.Watford host Chelsea at their Vicarage Road home in a 7:30pm kick-off, with the Hornets going for their third win in a row and the Blues hoping to recover from last week’s shock defeat to Leicester.

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And, if recent history tells us anything, it is that this clash will certainly be one for the neutrals – though it will have Watford and Chelsea fans biting their nails down to the skin.The last four matches between Watford and Chelsea have seen 21 goals scored, a remarkable average of 5.25 goals per game!The Hornets have scored 10 of these goals, with Chelsea edging the total with 11 scored.

Goals galore when Watford and Chelsea meet

The last four matches between Watford and Chelsea have seen a remarkable 21 goals scored. But what were the scorelines in each of those matches?

• Watford 1-2 Chelsea (August 20, 2016)
• Chelsea 4-3 Watford (May 15, 2017)
• Chelsea 4-2 Watford (October 21, 2017)
• Watford 4-1 Chelsea (February 4, 2018)

Five of these goals were scored the last time these two teams met, which just happened to be, like today’s match, an evening kick-off at Vicarage Road.Chelsea, managed by Antonio Conte, were reduced to 10 men after half-an-hour due to Tiemoue Bakayoko’s dismissal, and they fell a goal behind when Troy Deeney converted a penalty just before half-time.The Blues appeared to have rescued a point with Eden Hazard equalising in the final 10 minutes, but Watford ran riot in the dying stages, scoring three times to rout Chelsea. Daryl Janmaat restored the Hornets’ lead before Gerard Deulofeu added a third, with Roberto Pereyra grabbing Watford’s fourth in injury time.The shock defeat of Chelsea was Javi Gracia’s first home match in charge of Watford, and it secured him his first victory as the Hertfordshire club’s manager.2

Gracia celebrated his first victory as Watford manager against Chelsea

Given the excellent work he has put in since then, Hornets fans are hopeful Gracia can make it two wins from two against Chelsea – with a win potentially moving Watford into the top six of the Premier League table at the halfway stage of the season.

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